Confederate States of America
| Quartermaster-General's Office |
| Richmond, February 16, 1865 |
| |
| Hon. J. C. Breckinridge |
| Secretary of War |
| |
| Sir, |
| In response to your circular of the 7th
instant calling for a statement of the "means and resources on
hand for carrying on the business of this Bureau," etc.; also
"what impediments exist," etc., I have the honor to call
your attention to the following papers: |
| First. A statement prepared by Major Cole in
reference to the requirements of the service as to field
transportation and the means necessary for meeting the demand. This
paper shows the great scarcity of horses in the country and the
difficulty of procuring them, together with the measures being
adopted for the purpose. The great obstacle at present is the want
of funds. |
| Second. A statement from Major Cross relative
to the supply of clothing, present and prospective. The difficulties
encountered in this branch of the department arise from scarcity of
wool, the frequent stopping of the work by ordering away the
operatives, and the want of funds. |
| Third. A communication from Lieutenant-Colonel
Sims as to the condition of railroad transportation, the wants of
the railroads, etc. The chief difficulties encountered there arise
from defective machinery and the impossibility of supplying new, the
want of legislation giving the Government proper control over
railroads and their employees and the want of funds to pay the roads
so as to keep them in as good condition as the blockade and the
limited resources of the country will permit. |
| Several special communications on this subject
have been addressed by this Bureau to Honorable Secretary of War. At
present this department has no control over railroads except so much
as has been yielded by contract or courtesy. |
| The supply of grain and long forage in the
country is believed to be quite enough to supply the public animals,
but no distinct opinion can be hazarded as to the ability of this
Bureau to supply it to the armies during the coming campaign, as so
much will depend on the relative positions of the different armies
and the preservation or destruction of our lines of transportation. |
| To sum up, I venture to state that this Bureau
can conduct its operations with success enough to sustain our armies
if labor is allowed to the various workshops on which it depends,
without interruption; if the privilege of detailing contractors
under certain circumstances be continued, and the necessary funds
are promptly furnished. Without these this department is powerless
and the want of them is fast paralyzing its efforts. |
| Very respectfully, your obedient servant |
| A. R. Lawton |
| Quartermaster-General |
| |
| ***** |
| |
| [Inclosure No. 3] |
| Confederate States Quartermaster's Department |
| Office Superintendent Railroad Transportation |
| Richmond, February 10, 1865 |
| |
| Brigadier-General Lawton |
| Quartermaster-General |
| |
| In making the report you ordered upon the
condition and wants in regard to transportation by railroad, it may
not be improper to call your attention to the cause of the
difficulties which have always attended it with increasing force as
this city is approached. |
| In North Carolina and Virginia, where
transportation bears the most heavily because of its increasing
volume as you approach Richmond, the roads are the least able to
bear it. They were constructed and equipped to transport that great
stream of travel between the North and South, and with no
expectation of a heavy freighting business, prepared themselves with
such machinery as was adapted to carrying a light train very
rapidly. So long as the Army could draw supplies from any quarter,
and the lines running south as far as Wilmington and Charlotte were
called on only to transport men, the work was performed promptly and
well; but when supplies failed in Virginia and North Carolina, and
Georgia and South Carolina had to furnish them, an immense business
was at once created upon those lines, which they were unprepared to
meet; their engines were light and few in number, and their cars the
same. Had the gauge of the tracks south suited, machinery might have
been drawn from there; but this not being so, we have had to
struggle against a heavy business with inadequate means of
performing it. Under these circumstances any machinery will
depreciate; it is overworked and not well attended to, and must
inevitably grow less reliable. New cars are being built, though the
difficulties encountered retard the progress very much; but new
engines cannot be manufactured in the Confederacy. |
| It becomes all-important, then, that those we
have should be preserved in good repair, and here we meet the really
great difficulties arising from the scarcity of mechanics and
materials. The hardships of the war and the fear of conscription
have induced many of this class to leave the Confederacy. Most of
them were natives of the United States, feeling but little or no
interest in our country or cause. They are generally of a roving and
reckless character, forming attachments to places but rarely, and
impatient of restraint. Many of them enlisted and have been killed,
so that the number in the country has been constantly decreasing.
This deficiency cannot be supplied as in ordinary times by the
instruction of apprentices because the conscript law takes them for
the Army just at the period when they are learning to be useful, nor
can they be induced to come from abroad at the present pay, and with
the fear of the Army before them. |
| To the want of mechanics is to be added the
want of materials. Not a single bar of railroad iron has been rolled
in the Confederacy since the war, nor can we hope to do any better
during the continuance. The main lines will be kept up by despoiling
the side lines, but if our lines should expand and the rails and
machinery be taken away by the enemy we could not replace them. But
without discussing the supply of rails, which is in the hands of a
special commission, there are many articles of iron which cannot be
had because of its scarcity. Aside from iron there are copper,
pig-tin, steam gauges, cast steel, files, etc., without which it is
impossible to maintain engines. They are as necessary as iron.
Heretofore a small supply has been had through Wilmington, but with
that port closed we are cut off entirely, except by trading with the
enemy and paying in cotton. With plenty of mechanics and material
the machinery now in use could be improved and there would be a
corresponding improvement in transportation; but it should be borne
in mind that as machinery grows older it takes more work to keep it
in efficient condition, and therefore the same men and material now
do not accomplish so much as at the commencement of the war. |
| Your earnest attention is called to the entire
absence of responsibility of railroad officers to any military
authority. It is true there is a kind of moral influence exercised
over them rather from some undefined idea that the hand of
Government can reach them than from any other cause. The public and
indeed most of the officers are under the impression that your
Bureau has supreme power over all the railroads and trains in the
Confederacy, and had but to order them at your will to any point you
desired. As to the men, they are exempt and enjoy almost entire
immunity from the ordinary means of punishment. The only attempt yet
made to render the railroads amenable to some authority has resulted
in a law so full of loopholes that it is inoperative. These are the
main reasons why our railroad transportation is already deficient
and daily depreciating. Efforts are being made to purchase
materials, but success is quite uncertain. At present this want is
not so serious as the want of mechanics, though it may become so if
the materials are not obtained. |
| It may not be out of place to mention that,
notwithstanding the scarcity and value of this kind of
transportation, it receives but little protection or security from
our armies, which seems strange, when not only their comfort but
their safety depends on its efficiency. As cases in point, and of
recent date, is the loss of cars and engines at Atlanta,
Griswoldville, Gordon, and Savannah, footing up probably 25 engines
and 400 cars, or an equipment greater than we now have to work the
Richmond & Danville Railroad. |
| F. W. Sims |
| Lieutenant-Colonel and Quartermaster |
|